182 HISTORY OF 



hunger, and he soon becomes an useful domestic 

 animal. 



The usual manner of trying their swiftness is 

 by hunting the ostrich : the horse is the only ani- 

 mal whose speed is comparable to that of this 

 creature, which is found in the sandy plains with 

 which those countries abound. The instant the 

 ostrich perceives itself aimed at, it makes to the 

 mountains, while the horseman pursues with all 

 the swiftness possible, and endeavours to cut off 

 its retreat. The chase then continues along the 

 plain, while the ostrich makes use of both legs 

 and wings to assist its motion. However, a horse 

 of the first speed is able to outrun it ; so that the 

 poor animal is then obliged to have recourse to 

 art to elude the hunter, by frequently turning : 

 at length, finding all escape hopeless, it hides its 

 head wherever it can, and suffers itself tamely to 

 be taken. If the horse, in a trial of this kind, 

 shows great speed, and is not readily tired, his 

 price becomes proportionably great, and there are 

 some horses valued at a thousand ducats. 



But the horses thus caught, or trained in this 

 manner, are at present but very few ; the value of 

 Arabian horses over all the world has in a great 

 measure thinned the deserts of the wild breed, 

 and there are very few to be found in those coun- 

 tries except such as are tame. The Arabians, as 

 we are told by historians, first began the manage- 

 ment of horses in the time of Sheque Ismael. Be- 

 fore that, they wandered wild along the face of 

 the country, neglected and useless ; but the na- 

 tives then first began to tame their fierceness, and 



